A recent study conducted by New Zealand researchers on Whites found that people who “trust what they see” on social media are more likely to develop anti-Chinese biases as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Daily Mail reports.
The researchers suggest that hate against Chinese Americans and more broadly, Asian Americans, is becoming a “different sort of pandemic.”
“In the case of COVID-19, social media, and other media, were and are being used as venues to share and build ideas, values and morals,” lead author Dr Stephen Croucher, a professor of communication at Massey University in New Zealand, told Daily Mail. “Many of these are very positive, but some are not.”
Contributing to the concerning sentiments being shared online is the isolation caused by the pandemic itself. People have increasingly relied on social media to interact with other individuals and get information, thus being exposed to more racist and xenophobic content.
The researchers surveyed 277 Whites and used integrated threat theory, a popular psychological method, to isolate perceived threat from outsider groups. The study can be found in Frontiers in Communications.
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These findings have also been corroborated by Human Rights Watch, which published a May 12 release calling national plans to counter the surge in harassment and hate.
People of Asian descent have received derogatory and racist retorts on social media platforms, potentially fueled by President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s public use of discriminatory terminology, HRC stated.
“Racism and physical attacks on Asians and people of Asian descent have spread with the Covid-19 pandemic, and government leaders need to act decisively to address the trend,” Asia advocacy director John Sifton said. “Governments should act to expand public outreach, promote tolerance, and counter hate speech while aggressively investigating and prosecuting hate crimes.”
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